Performance evaluation of heat exchanger using alternative refrigerant R407C

R22 (HCFC22) has been widely used as the refrigerant in air conditioners. According to the Montreal protocol for ozone layer protection, the total production of HCFCs has been capped since the beginning of 1996. Zeotropic refrigerant mixture R407C and nearly azeotropic refrigerant mixture R410A have been selected as alternatives to R22. We examined refrigerant passages in heat exchangers used in heat pump‐type room air conditioners using zeotropic refrigerant R407C through simulation, and obtained the following conclusions. In an indoor heat exchanger, a counter flow configuration when operating as a condenser has higher temperature efficiency. When an outdoor heat exchanger operates as an evaporator, a configuration that suppresses the temperature glide by partially reducing the refrigerant passage not only produces high efficiency, but also reduces the frost formation on fins. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 31(8): 626–638, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10064     

An experimental evaluation of the vapour compression plant performances in presence of R407C leaks using an electronic expansion valve

Chlorofluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used as working fluids in the vapour compression plants, have to be replaced by new substances because of their ozone depletion potential. Zeotropic mixture of HFCs refrigerants that are environment-friendly substances are often employed. The zeotropic mixtures with a large glide temperature could cause problems in the refrigeration control system when a leak occurs because their composition modifies. This paper presents a comparison of the energetic performances, in presence of leaks, when a thermostatic valve and an electronic expansion valve are used in a refrigeration plant, working with the zeotropic mixture designated as R407C (R32/R125/R134a 23/25/52% in mass)—this is the most suitable substitute of the HCFC22. The vapour leaks are simulated at the inlet of the evaporator and at the liquid receiver. Experimental results show that a good adaptability to mixture leaks is related to the electronic expansion valve, while better energetic performances are obtained using the thermostatic expansion valve as long as it is usable.     

Evolving an optimal composition of HFC407C/HC290/HC600a mixture as an alternative to HCFC22 in window air conditioners

Countries that have ratified Montreal Protocol have to phase out HCFC22 in the near future due to its ozone depleting potential (ODP) and hence new eco-friendly refrigerants are being evolved as substitutes. At Present HFC407C is one of the promising drop-in substitutes for HCFC22. But it is immiscible with mineral oil and hence polyol ester (POE) oil is recommended. Since POE oil is highly hygroscopic in nature it is not user friendly. However such oil immiscibility issue of HFC134a has been overcome [M. Janssen, F. Engels, The use of HFC134a with mineral oil in hermetic cooling equipment, Report 95403, No. 07, presented in the 19th International Congress of Refrigeration, The Hague, 1995] by the addition of HC blend to it, which also resulted in performance improvements. In the present work an attempt has been made to study the possibility of using HFC407C/HC290/HC600a refrigerant mixture as a substitute for HCFC22 in a window air conditioner and to evolve an optimal composition for the mixture. Experiments were carried out in a room calorimeter setup fitted with 1050 W capacity window air-conditioner. Condenser inlet air temperatures were held constant at 30, 35, 40 and 45 °C, while evaporator inlet air temperatures were varied over a range viz. 21, 23, 25, 27 and 29 °C during the experimentation. The HC percentage was also varied from 10 to 25% in steps of 5%. The new refrigerant mixtures demand longer condenser length to decrease the high discharge pressure matching with HCFC22 systems and hence the length has been increased while testing the mixtures. This also resulted in better heat transfer in condenser. The performance analysis revealed that the new refrigerant mixture performed better than that of HCFC22. It has in fact been found that the new mixture can improve the actual COP by 8 to 11% and hence it can reduce the energy consumption by 5 to 10.5%. The overall performance has proved that the new refrigerant mixture could be an excellent substitute for HCFC22.     

Energy and exergy analyses of a two‐stage vapour compression refrigeration system

In this paper exergy analysis of two‐stage vapour compression refrigeration (VCR) system has been carried out with an objective to evaluate optimum inter‐stage temperature (pressure) for refrigerants HCFC22, R410A and R717. A thermodynamic model based on the principles of mass, energy and exergy balances is developed for this purpose. The computed results illustrate the effects of evaporation and condensation temperatures, isentropic efficiencies of compressors, sub‐cooling of refrigerant and superheating of suction vapour on optimum inter‐stage saturation temperature (pressure). The optimum inter‐stage saturation temperatures (pressures) for HCFC22 and R410A are proximate to arithmetic mean of evaporation and condensation temperatures (AMT) when assuming superheating of suction vapour and non‐isentropic compression processes in low‐pressure and high‐pressure compressors. The optimum inter‐stage saturation temperatures (pressures) for HCFC22 and R410A are near to geometric mean of evaporation and condensation temperatures (GMT) when it is assumed that cycle involves the effects of sub‐cooling, superheating of suction vapour and non‐isentropic compression of the suction vapour. The optimum inter‐stage saturation temperature (pressure) for R717 is close to GMT irrespective of sub‐cooling, superheating of suction vapour and non‐isentropic compression in the cycle. The efficiency defects, computed corresponding to optimum inter‐stage temperature in condenser is higher in comparison to the other components. Finally, it is deduced that R717 is a better alternative refrigerant to HCFC22 than R410A in two‐stage VCR system. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance analysis of single-stage refrigeration system with internal heat exchanger using neural network and neuro-fuzzy

In this study, artificial neural networks (ANNs) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy (ANFIS) have been used for performance analysis of single-stage vapour compression refrigeration system with internal heat exchanger using refrigerants R134a, R404a, R407c which do not damage to ozone layer. It is well known that the evaporator temperature, condenser temperature, subcooling temperature, superheating temperature and cooling capacity affect the coefficient of performance (COP) of single-stage vapour compression refrigeration system with internal heat exchanger. In this study, COP is estimated depending on the above temperatures and cooling capacity values. The results of ANN are compared with ANFIS in which the same data sets are used. ANN model is slightly better than ANFIS for R134a whereas ANFIS model is slightly better than ANN for R404a and R407c. In addition, new formulations obtained from ANN for three refrigerants are presented for the calculation of the COP. The R² values obtained when unknown data were used to the networks were 1, 0.999998 and 0.999998 for the R134a, R404a and R407c respectively which is very satisfactory.     

A comparative study of water as a refrigerant with some current refrigerants

Water as a refrigerant (R718) is compared with some current natural (R717 and R290) and synthetic refrigerants (R134a, R12, R22, and R152a) regarding environmental issues including ozone depletion potential (ODP) and global warming potential (GWP), safety (toxicity and flammability), operating cost, refrigeration capacity and coefficient of performance (COP). A computer code simulating a simple vapour compression cycle was developed to calculate COPs, pressure ratios, outlet temperatures of the refrigerants from the compressor, and evaporator temperatures above which water theoretically yields better COPs than the other refrigerants investigated. The main difference of this study from other similar studies is that both evaporator temperature and condenser temperature are changed as changing parameters, but the temperature lift, which is the temperature difference between condenser and evaporator, are held constant and the irreversibility during the compression process is also taken into consideration by taking the isentropic efficiency different from 100%. It is found that for evaporator temperatures above 20°C and small temperature lift (5 K), R718 gives the highest COP assuming exactly the same cycle parameters. For medium temperature lifts (20–25 K), this evaporator temperature is above 35°C, whereas for even greater temperature lifts it decreases again. Furthermore, with increased values of polytropic efficiency, R718 can maintain higher COPs over other refrigerants, at lower evaporator temperatures. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A review on recent developments in new refrigerant mixtures for vapour compression‐based refrigeration,air‐conditioning and heat pump units

In the present paper, an attempt has been made to review the performance of new refrigerant mixtures employed in vapour compression‐based refrigeration, air‐conditioning and heat pump units. The studies reported with refrigerant mixtures are categorized into six groups as follows: (i) hydrocarbon (HC), (ii) hydroflurocarbons (HFC), (iii) HFC/HC, (iv) hydrochloroflurocarbons (HCFC), (v) carbon dioxide (R744) and (vi) ammonia (R717). This paper explores the studies reported with new refrigerant mixtures in domestic refrigerators, commercial refrigeration systems, air conditioners, heat pumps, chillers and in automobile air conditioners. In addition, the technical difficulties faced with new refrigerant mixtures, further research needs in this field and future refrigerant options for new upcoming systems have been discussed in detail. This paper concludes that HC based refrigerant mixtures are identified as a long‐term alternative to phase out the existing halogenated refrigerants in the vapour compression‐based systems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental evaluation of electronic and thermostatic expansion valves performances using R22 and R407C

An experimental study to evaluate the energetic performances in steady-state and in transient operating modes of an electronic and thermostatic expansion valve is presented. Both valves have been assembled to feed an air cooled evaporator connected to an experimental vapour compression plant with a water cooled condenser operating with a semihermetic compressor. The performances of the valves have been examined at different conditions when the experimental plant works with R22 and with a substitute as the non-azeotropic blend R407C that is chlorine free. Indeed the HCFC designated as R22 contains chlorine that is harmful for the ozone layer and must be replaced in the future. The final results of this study show an overall better performance of the electronic expansion valve compared with the thermostatic expansion valve under transient conditions while in steady-state conditions both the valves are equal in performance. These results apply to both R22 and R407C.     

Thermodynamic analysis of R422 series refrigerants as alternative refrigerants to HCFC22 in a vapour compression refrigeration system

In the present study, the first and second law analysis of R422 series refrigerants (R422A, R422B, R422C and R422D) is presented as an alternative to HCFC22. A computational model, developed in engineering equation solver software, is employed for comparing the performance of these refrigerants in vapour compression refrigeration cycle. The thermodynamic properties of the R422 series refrigerants are computed using Refprop version 7.0. The parameters computed are volumetric cooling capacity (VCC), compressor discharge temperature, coefficient of performance (COP), exergetic efficiency and efficiency defects in system components. The results indicate that VCC, COP and exergetic efficiency for HCFC22 are higher in comparison with R422A, R422B, R422C and R422D. The efficiency defects in the condenser are largest followed by throttle valve, compressor and evaporator. Thus, the design improvement of condenser is of utmost importance to reduce the overall irreversibility and improve the system performance. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A zero ODP replacement for R12 in a centrifugal compressor: an experimental study using R134a

It is well believed that the hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and their mixtures are the most promising candidates to substitute the conventional refrigerants, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and HCFCs which contain chlorine atoms in the molecule. This substitution is necessary for the harmful action of CFCs and of HCFCs toward atmospheric ozone layer damage because the disruption of ozone has been attributed to chlorine. For this reason they must be replaced by more environment‐friendly refrigerants, as the new family, designated as HFCs, that are chlorine free. Centrifugal compressors differ from positive displacement compressors in two major respects: high vapour volume flow for a given physical size and lower pressure ratio. They are particularly suited to applications where differences between evaporator and condenser temperatures are low. The preferred properties for fluids used in centrifugal compressors differ in certain important aspects from those preferred for fluids used in positive displacement units. In particular centrifugal compressors typically utilize fluids such as CFC114, CFC113, CFC12 and CFC11 for which many potential candidate replacements exist; however, for CFC12, HFC134a is the most suitable replacement. A comparison of the refrigerants HFC134a and CFC12 has been carried out and the results from the tests, using data from a refrigerating plant operating with a centrifugal compressor are reported. The chilled water cooling plant, with a refrigerating capacity of 6500 kW is made up of a centrifugal two‐stage compressor, a condenser linked to a cooling tower, an economizer and a flooded evaporator. Experimental results show that a lower coefficient of performance is found when R134a is used as substitute for R12; the difference between the COP values decreases rising the compression ratio. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance study on the evaporation and pressure drop of low‐temperature refrigerant blends in porous media

An experimental investigation on the performance of different low‐temperature refrigerant blends is presented in this work. Five different low‐temperature refrigerant blends are put on display to replace the R22 refrigerant, which has a high ozone depletion potential. These five blends are R404A, R407C, R410A, R417A, and R422A. Different performance studies have been performed on these alternative refrigerants to replace R22. A comparative experimental performance study is performed during the evaporation of these refrigerant blends in porous media. A porous metallic heat transfer medium is used with different porosities (40%, 43%, and 45%) in the evaporator during the test experiments. The evaporator superheat and the condenser subcool are maintained constant throughout the experiments at 8°C (±0.5°C) and 6°C (±0.5°C), respectively. The condensing temperature is kept constant at 38.5°C, and the mean evaporating temperatures were selected to be from ?33 to ?18°C. The effect of the above‐mentioned given operating conditions on the compressor discharge temperature, evaporation pressure drop, evaporation capacity, and coefficient of performance of these five low‐temperature refrigerant blends has been analyzed for different porosities. This experimental study showed that the refrigerant R422A can give a similar or greater performance to R22 and R404A with a global warming effect and zero ozone depleting potential.     

Performance evaluation of R404A and R507A refrigerant mixtures in an experimental double-stage vapour compression plant

As a result of the ban of the CFC fluids in 2000 and the future limitation of HCFC fluids, which manufacture limit is the year 2010, refrigerant producers have been working to develop different mixtures, mainly based on HFC fluids, which emulate the properties of the former refrigerants used in refrigeration plants. At the moment, the HFC-404A and the HFC-507A are the more widely used fluids in Europe as replacement of the CFC-502 in plants operating at low temperatures. This work presents the experimental evaluation, from an energy point of view, of both refrigerants in the same refrigeration plant, which corresponds to a double-stage vapour compression plant driven by a compound compressor. The characterization was made for an evaporating temperature range between −36 and −20 °C for a constant condensing temperature of 40 °C.     

Effect of saturation‐temperature on the performance of a vapour‐compression refrigeration‐cycle working on different refrigerants using exergy method

In this study, the behaviour of a vapour‐compression refrigeration cycle, for different refrigerants such as NH₃, R‐12, R‐22 and HFC‐134a was investigated using the exergy method. The cooling load of the plant and the saturation‐temperature of the cold chamber were held constant, whereas the saturation‐temperatures of the evaporator and the condenser were varied from 303 to 313 K and 258 to 248 K, respectively. The irreversibility rates (or exergy destruction rates) of sub‐regions for the whole cycle, using energy and exergy analysis, were determined for each refrigerant. The effects of changes in the saturation‐temperature in the condenser and evaporator on the irreversibility rate of the cycle were obtained for each refrigerant. The relations between the total irreversibility rate of the plant and the irreversibility rate of the condenser and the evaporator were determined for different values of saturation temperatures of the condenser and the evaporator. The COP of the cycle and the rational efficiency were determined for each of the refrigerants and compared with each other. Among the refrigerants used, R‐12 was found to be the most economical refrigerant as compared with the others. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance prediction of a refrigerating machine using R‐407C: the effect of the circulating composition on system performance

This article presents a steady‐state model of a vapour compression refrigerating machine using a ternary refrigerant mixture R‐407C. When using a zeotropic mixture in a refrigerant cycle, the circulating composition does not agree with the composition of the original charged mixture. It is mainly due to the temperature glide and the vapour–liquid slip ratio. As a result of the composition shift and its magnitude, the system performance changes depending on the system design, especially the presence of liquid receiving vessels. In this paper, a method that predicts the circulating composition has been associated to a refrigerating machine model. The results obtained with this model show an enrichment in the most volatile components of about 1% for the circulating composition, which is sufficient to decrease the system performance by about 3%. Factors affecting the overall performance have been investigated. The results show a very strong performance dependence on the refrigerant charge. The COP can decrease by 25% when the refrigerant charge is insufficient. An initial charged composition variation of 2% involves variations of the cooling capacity of about 5%. Furthermore, our model was employed to compare the performance for both R‐22 and R‐407C. The cooling capacity for R‐22 is slightly greater in comparison to R‐407C and the COP is almost constant. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Use of New Refrigerants in Compact Heat Exchangers for the Refrigeration Industry

The present article reports on the results of experimental research carried out on compact plate heat exchangers, currently used as evaporators and condensers in refrigeration loops. The research was aimed at getting information on the thermal efficiency of the heat exchangers, under reference commercial conditions, when using new ozone-friendly refrigerants to replace CFCs and HCFCs. Specifically, the influence of some thermal-hydraulic parameters on the heat flux and the overall heat transfer coefficient are investigated for evaporators, using R134a, R407C, and R410A, three fluids proposed to replace R22, and HCFC, currently the most common refrigerant used in residential and commercial air conditioning equipment. Moreover, in this article a new thermodynamic method has been applied with the purpose of defining the saturation temperature and investigating the other main parameters for mixtures in the two-phase region for the fluids R407C and R410A, which are blends of, respectively, three and two pure refrigerants.     

Thermodynamic analysis of subcooling and superheating effects of alternative refrigerants for vapour compression refrigeration cycles

This paper presents a computer‐based first law and exergy analysis applied to vapour compression refrigeration systems for determining subcooling and superheating effects of environmentally safe new refrigerants. Three refrigerants are considered: R134a, R407c and R410a. It is found that subcooling and superheating temperatures directly influence the system performance as both condenser and evaporator temperatures are affected. The thermodynamic properties of the refrigerants are formulated using artificial neural network (ANN) methodology. Six ANNs were trained to predict various properties of the three refrigerants. The training and validation of the ANNs were performed with good accuracy. The correlation coefficient obtained when unknown data were used to the networks were found to be equal or very near to 1 which is very satisfactory. Additionally, the present methodology proved to be much better than the linear multiple regression analysis. From the analysis of the results it is found that condenser and evaporator temperatures have strong effects on coefficient of performance (COP) and system irreversibility. Also both subcooling and superheating affect the system performance. This effect is similar for R134a and R407c, and different for R410a. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental evaluation of the internal heat exchanger influence on a vapour compression plant energy efficiency working with R22, R134a and R407C

Internal or liquid-suction heat exchangers are used in many refrigeration and air conditioning systems based on the vapour compression cycle, with the basic objective of assuring the entrance of refrigerant in liquid phase to the expansion device. This purpose is achieved by exchanging energy between the cool gaseous refrigerant leaving the evaporator and warm liquid refrigerant exiting the condenser. These devices can have positive or negative influences on the plant overall energy efficiency, depending on the working fluid and the operating conditions. In this paper the experimental results obtained from a refrigeration test facility with and without the presence of an internal heat exchanger, using R22, R134a and R407C as working fluids, are presented and analyzed, including the impact of pressure drops and variations of refrigerant mass flow rate. A comparison between experimental and theoretical results is also enclosed.     

A performance comparison of vapour-compression refrigeration system using various alternative refrigerants

A theoretical performance study on a traditional vapour-compression refrigeration system with refrigerant mixtures based on HFC134a, HFC152a, HFC32, HC290, HC1270, HC600, and HC600a was done for various ratios and their results are compared with CFC12, CFC22, and HFC134a as possible alternative replacements. In spite of the HC refrigerants' highly flammable characteristics, they are used in many applications, with attention being paid to the safety of the leakage from the system, as other refrigerants in recent years are not related with any effect on the depletion of the ozone layer and increase in global warming. Theoretical results showed that all of the alternative refrigerants investigated in the analysis have a slightly lower performance coefficient (COP) than CFC12, CFC22, and HFC134a for the condensation temperature of 50 °C and evaporating temperatures ranging between − 30 °C and 10 °C. Refrigerant blends of HC290/HC600a (40/60 by wt.%) instead of CFC12 and HC290/HC1270 (20/80 by wt.%) instead of CFC22 are found to be replacement refrigerants among other alternatives in this paper as a result of the analysis. The effects of the main parameters of performance analysis such as refrigerant type, degree of subcooling, and superheating on the refrigerating effect, coefficient of performance and volumetric refrigeration capacity are also investigated for various evaporating temperatures.     

Neural networks—a new approach to model vapour‐compression heat pumps

The aim of this paper is to model the steady‐state performance of a vapour‐compression liquid heat pump with the use of neural networks. The model uses a generalized radial basis function (GRBF) neural network. Its input vector consists only of parameters that are easily measurable, i.e. the chilled water outlet temperature from the evaporator, the cooling water inlet temperature to the condenser and the evaporator capacity. The model then predicts relevant performance parameters of the heat pump, especially the coefficient of performance (COP). Models are developed for three different refrigerants, namely LPG, R22 and R290. It is found that not every model achieves the same accuracy. Predicted COP values, when LPG or R22 are used as refrigerant, are usually accurate to within 2 per cent, whereas many predictions for R290 deviate more than ±10 per cent. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance assessment of a direct expansion air conditioner working with R407C as an R22 alternative

This paper presents an experimental investigation of a direct expansion air conditioner working with R407C as an R22 alternative. Experiments are conducted on a vapor compression refrigeration system using air as a secondary fluid through both the evaporator and the condenser. The influences of the evaporator air inlet temperature (20–32 °C), the evaporator air flow rate (250–700 m³/h) and the evaporator air humidity ratio (9 and 14.5 g_wv/kg_a) at the condenser air temperature and volume flow rate of 35 °C and 850 m³/h, respectively on the system performance are investigated. Experimental results revealed that the evaporator air inlet temperature has pronounced effects on the air exit temperatures, pressures of the evaporator and the condenser, cooling capacity, condenser heat load, compressor pressure ratio and the COP of both refrigerants at humidity ratios of 9 and 14.5 g_wv/kg_a. Significant effects of the evaporator air flow rate are also gathered on the preceding parameters at the same values of mentioned-humidity ratios. The best performance, in terms of operating parameters as well as COP, can be accomplished using R22 compared to R407C. The inlet humidity ratio affects dramatically the performance of vapor compression system using R22 and R407C. The raising up humidity ratio from 9 to 14.5 g_wv/kg_a leads to an augmentation in the average cooling capacity by 29.4% and 38.5% and an enhancement in the average COP by 30% and 24.1% for R22 and R407C, respectively.